Get in the Frame {Self-Portraits}

Woaaaaaah NELLY! I'll take any challenging photography theme and will raise you one HARDEST theme ever. Next, I'll frost it with the busiest month I think I've ever had {EVER}. I'm not even kidding ... actually April and May both were just insane. My fitbit tracker can prove that I slept very little over the past weeks. My sanity/soul can attest that I can't maintain that level of pressure, responsibility, and busy-ness.

I won't elaborate on the laundry list of tasks that culminated in a miserable month. I will, however, assure you that June is NOT going to be so crazy. I won't allow it!

In fact, I am self-proclaiming June to be "Jazzy June." The Jordan family is taking a hiatus from racing 90 mph. We are going to cruz into and out of June. Certain things can (must be) let go of ... or my grip on them needs to be loosened.

Unfortunately, the first thing on the trimming block is my June 1 blog post. I'm still showing up, but you are getting a much more compact version of my norm.

This month's theme of "getting in the frame" required [and/or]:

A tripod (cumbersome)
A remote (harder than it sounds)
A stand-in photographer (which is just not the same me behind the glass)
A self-confidence willing to pose on the opposite side of the lens.

It was rough.

I am showing up, but I'm pretty worn out and barely making it.

I am not alone ... I know several of our LFTL gals just had to set this one aside given the craziness of the end of the school year. Amidst the chaos, Loren was able to put together absolutely inspiring post. Please go read it ... her vulnerability, honesty, and grit stopped me in my tracks and was just what I needed today. Loren, you are simply stunning.

Make it look easy {PS this is my favorite}

I wish that I could be in a hundred photos a month with my kids that looked this easy. I feel like the ones that actually turn out are always happenstance. Right before Hadley's birthday party, I'd wanted a shot of just her looking all FOUR and adorable. I got my settings set up in terms of light and exposure, but she was just grumpy. I handed my camera to Matt and said, "try to get one of her after I tickle her ... oh and one photo of us would be nice too." He took MANY.

The image above of Hadley and I was hands down my favorite. It was so happy that he got it!

The classic mirror shot

Nothing special to share here. Take your photo in a mirror. Hey, I got in the frame, so it is not creative, but it counts, LOL.

Better together

When in doubt, make a little collage. It almost always makes mediocre photos look better, especially if you can group them in a pleasing way. These photos are super boring, but as a grouping, they actually tell a story (even if it's a boring one of a nerdy photographer trying to take pictures of herself).

I use BlogStomp, but I am sure there are dozens of collage program or app options.

Faces are over-rated

I'm pretty sure this right here is just me telling myself something kind to make me feel better about not getting my face in focus in my trial shots . I'm validating myself though ... because when I attended the Click Away conference, there was a lot of chatter about how being off-centered or having an odd crop could be beautiful.

See, I'm just being beautiful in an non-traditional way. Right?!? Ha!

Speaking of faceless ... here is my hair looking awesome for 1 day out of the year ...

My hair stylist took this photo of my hair after she styled it. I got to feel like a model for like 15-seconds, so that was fun!

failure is part of learning

LOL, I was trying SO hard to take an actual self-portrait using my tripod, but for the life of me I could not get myself in focus. I kept trying to put a chair in the spot that I was going to stand, focus on that, then move the chair and stand in that spot and snap my remote.

I ended up with all these blurry photos. It was a verging on ridiculous HAHA. Clearly, I need some practice on self-portraits, which I doubt I will invest much (if any) time in in the near future. Selfies have never really been my thing, and I'd always prefer to be behind the camera and not in front of it.

In desperation to figure it out, I snapped a bunch of me just walking away in hopes that I'd land focus. While this one is still totally blurry, I liked the feel of it.

This one is blurry too, LOL, but at least I'm far enough away that you can't tell. I also learned that you if I was facing away from the camera, the lack of focus was a tad less noticeable? Basically this one is LESS TERRIBLE than the others. HAHAHA this was basically a waisted hour of my life, but at least I learned quite a bit about how NOT to take self-portraits.

I finally nailed focus but cut my face off halfway through it. These are just cracking me up. Oh well, I tried, which is half the battle.

Get Creative

Just when I was feeling at a serious loss for inspiration, a friend of mine sent me a photo with this cool crystal sphere. I hopped on Amazon and bought one. Similar to my fish eye, it's just a cool way to spice things up from time to time.

This next one isn't of me, but I just wanted to give another example using the ball.

recruit help

My family has been incredibly supportive of my photography ventures. It's a time consuming interest, especially when I am working on a theme. This month, I recruited my husband Matt to actually TAKE the pictures. I got it all ready, and he just had to click.

This is once again why I have loved pushing myself to complete this Life from this Lens project. I now have some fun photos of Tyler and I that I would have NEVER otherwise had. He'd just finished gymnastics practice and was heading in for dinner and homework. We took like 3 minutes to snap a few photos simply because it was almost June 1, and I had very little material to post about. They are fun memories ... good job Matt :).

Phone Pics

Like most moms, mainly the only photos I ever have of myself are on my phone, but that's ok too. At least I have them. I really liked this one from Hadley's birthday party. Plus, seriously, these little girls were truly the cutest.

Framily

OK PHEW! This month has been a huge challenge for me, and I'm super relieved that I am finished. But before I go, I have one last picture to share.

I really can't even with this one. I met Matt in 1996. He came with a whole clan of friends. Thankfully, I'm one to take in friends quickly, but I had no idea that these 7 adults would become my forever people. Here we were as babies in the first few years of marriage ...

We have done so much life together, and it just keeps getting better. Fast forward from a bunch of 18-year-olds to now ... here we are FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER in one place: 8 adults and 11 (ELEVEN) sought after, prayed over, beautiful children.

I have many irreplaceable friends in my life. But ... there is always something so cool about traveling through decades with a tribe. Some of these people knew me when I was 16-years-old. They are the reason that I know and love Jesus. They are the reason tha Matt and I are still in a loving and healthy marriage.

Even though we are separated by distance and life is busy, we prioritize connecting almost daily in some small way. It fills my cup.

I love studying personality, and I was listening the a podcast (Typology) this week about the Enneagram. The host mentioned a 70-year study conducted at Harvard that was all about human joy, life satisfaction, and purpose. Their conclusion was that the number one factor in lifelong joy was human connection and relationships. I definitely could not have made it through the past 2 decades and emerged as the woman I am today without the support of these best friends. We challenge, support, and genuinely love each other. Seeing this photo makes my heart soar in ways that I really can't describe.

Find your people. Love them hard.

PS Bring on next month ... anything other than "get in the frame" hahahaha